49-7-501 - Chairs of excellence endowment fund.
49-7-501. Chairs of excellence endowment fund.
(a) The chairs of excellence endowment fund is created.
(b) This fund shall operate as an irrevocable trust fund within the state treasury and shall be administered by the state treasurer. The terms of the trust instrument shall be approved by the attorney general and reporter.
(c) The trustees of the trust fund shall be the members of the state school bond authority, or their designees, who shall serve in an ex officio capacity. The state treasurer shall serve as chair of the board.
(d) The trustees shall set the investment policy for the trust in accordance with the laws, guidelines and policies that govern investments by the Tennessee consolidated retirement system. The state treasurer shall be responsible for investment of trust funds in accordance with the policy established by the trustees.
(e) The trust shall include funds appropriated for the purpose of funding the trust, matching funds contributed by public universities and the earnings on the funds. Matching funds contributed by public universities may include funds from private sources made on behalf of the respective universities. Appropriations made to the trust shall be divided equally between the general accounts of the University of Tennessee and the board of regents, unless otherwise directed by law.
(f) The corpus of the trust shall not be expended for any purpose. Income from the trust shall be expended for the sole purpose of funding the chairs of excellence program; provided, that investment expenses may also be deducted from income of the trust. For purposes of this part, the corpus of the trust means the funds appropriated by the state for the purpose of funding the trust and the matching funds contributed by public universities and by private sources on behalf of the respective universities. Income from the trust means all earnings from the trust's investment portfolios from whatever source derived, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, realized capital gains or losses and any income previously applied to the corpus of the trust. No funds may be expended for a chair until all requirements of § 49-7-502 have been met.
(g) (1) The trust shall be divided into two (2) general accounts:
(A) One (1) for the University of Tennessee; and
(B) One (1) for the board of regents.
(2) Each general account shall be divided into subaccounts for each chair established under § 49-7-502.
(3) Corpus shall be allocated to each subaccount in an amount sufficient to fund the chair. All income on the corpus allocated shall be paid to the subaccount.
(4) Income on the remaining corpus in each general account that has not been allocated shall be maintained in a special reserve at the general account level.
(5) Income in excess of the required funding for a subaccount shall be maintained in a special reserve at the subaccount level.
(6) Regardless of the allocation of funds, all moneys in the trust fund may be commingled for investment with other trust funds and other funds subject to investment by the state treasurer.
[Acts 1985, ch. 119, § 1; 2005, ch. 91, § 1; 2007, ch. 40, § 1.]